"Sexual Assault"

Published on: September 17, 2024

Man accused of filming child in Florida mall restroom faces charges, police say. A Look at Similar Cruise Ship Cases.

A 22-year-old man allegedly used a cell phone to take photos of a little girl in the women’s restroom of a Naples mall, the Naples Police Department said in a press release Monday.

David Sanabria, of unincorporated Collier County, was charged with video voyeurism and drug charges related to the incident. As of Tuesday morning, Sanabria remained in custody at the Collier County Jail, records show. Sanabria was given a court date of Oct. 7. Attorney details as well as information about a potential bond were not immediately available Tuesday.

The incident happened on Sept. 13 at the Coastland Center Mall, a shopping center featuring approximately 122 stores a movie theater and food court. Police who were patrolling the mall were approached by a minor who said that a man was taking photos of her in the women’s restroom from a neighboring bathroom stall. Police saw Sanabria exiting the women’s restroom and he was taken into custody, investigators said in the press release.

Published on: September 11, 2024

Florida Man Connected to “Autism on the Seas” Accused of Sexually Abusing a Minor on a Cruise Ship

By Leesfield & Partners

A Florida man allegedly contributing to at least two programs aimed to provide services for special needs children was charged after police accused him of sexually abusing a minor aboard a cruise ship in 2023.

James “Jamie” Grover, 62, of Volusia County, Florida, was charged with sexually abusing a minor after a search of his Deltona home in Volusia County, Florida, and of his workplace at the Seminole Town Center Mall in Sanford Thursday, according to local news outlets.

In reporting from 10 Tampa Bay, at least two mothers accused Grover of sexually abusing their children in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. At least one of the mothers said Grover committed a “sexual act” on her son while on a cruise in May of 2023.

Published on: September 6, 2024

Man Accused in Cruise Passenger’s Rape Faces Charges Following Weekend Cruise, Officials Say

By Leesfield & Partners

A Texas man who allegedly raped a woman on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas faced sexual battery charges and was taken into police custody when the ship docked in Fort Lauderdale over the weekend, officials say.

The alleged attack took place on Aug. 28 with a 20-year-old woman stating to police that she was raped mid-cruise by the man.

The man, 28, was granted a $20,000 bond.

Published on: August 9, 2024

Disney Cruise Line Announces New Ship – What to Know

By Leesfield & Partners

Disney Cruise Line announced plans for a new ship this week set to take sail in 2025.

Disney’s Destiny Cruise Ship will sail four and five-night voyages from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas and the Western Caribbean starting in November 2025. The ship is reportedly a merging of the stories of villains and heroes alike from Disney, Pixar and Marvel’s most-beloved stories. The ship will have three restaurants, themed “splash zones” and live shows with character meet-and-greets.

This comes just two weeks after Carnival Cruise Lines announced the addition of three more ships to its fleet with the carrying capacity to rival that of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas which is reportedly the largest cruise ship in operation today. The cruise ship industry is rapidly expanding after taking a major hit following the COVID-19 pandemic which saw the industry shut down to stop the spread of the virus. According to data based on research from J.P. Morgan, by 2028, the cruise ship industry will capture approximately 3.8% of the $1.9 trillion global vacation market. Globally, 35.7 million passengers are expected to set sail in 2024. This is a 6% increase from pre-COVID-19 numbers.

Published on: June 19, 2024

Cruise ships set to plug into power in Port Miami, attracting more ships to the area. Leesfield & Partners suspects a major problem

By Leesfield & Partners

Cruise ships at Port Miami will be able to plug into the county’s power grid – a move that officials say will boost the local economy by attracting more cruise lines to the area while cutting down on pollution.

There’s just one problem. More ships means an increase in the possibility of cruise ship injuries, a practice area that Leesfield & Partners knows all too well.

The decision was spurred by sustainability efforts from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava who told reporters in an article published in The Miami Herald that the project would bring the county that much closer to cutting down on its carbon emissions.

Published on: May 23, 2024

Leesfield & Partners: A History of Protecting Cruise Ship Guests and Employees from Corporations.

By Leesfield & Partners

While packing sunscreen or researching potential sights to see, no one expects that their long-awaited cruise vacation might end in tragedy. However, in its decades of practice, Leesfield & Partners has seen all too well just how easily these trips can take a turn for the worse.

Whether it be crashes on excursion buses, slipping on decks void of regulation handrails or an on-board medical professional refusing to evacuate a guest, Leesfield & Partners has seen families through it all. These tragic injuries have changed the lives of cruise ship guests, employees, and their loved ones, forever marring what should have been a beautiful memory of a relaxing getaway or just another day at work.

In 2023, approximately 7.3 million people went through Port Miami on their way to their cruises.

Published on: February 19, 2014

Female cruise passenger raped and beaten by Cruise Ship employee

By Leesfield & Partners

During a Valentine’s Day Cruise on the Holland America Line cruise ship “MS Nieuw Amsterdam”, cruise employee, Ketut Pujayasa, 28, who is an Indonesian citizen, savagely raped, beat and attempted to kill an innocent 31-year-old female cruise passenger.

As is often the method used by cruise employees who sexually assault female passengers, Pujayasa gained access to the passenger’s stateroom using a master key issued to many crewmembers, which give access to every single stateroom throughout the ship. Once inside, he hid on the balcony of the room. Moments later, the passenger returned to her room, where she was jumped on by the crewmember. According to the latest reports, he beat her with a laptop, and a curling iron. Once he thought he had physically won his victim over, he used the curling iron’s cord and the phone’s cord to choke the woman. Fighting for her life, she was able to loosen the grasp of her assailant by kicking his exposed genitals.

At that time, Pujayasa told the FBI that he attempted to kill his agonizing victim by throwing her over the railing of the stateroom’s balcony. That is when knocks on the room’s door scared him away and he escaped by climbing out of the room, into another balcony. The victim ran out of her room half naked, with the cord of the curling iron still wrapped around her neck and body.

Published on: May 21, 2013

Disney crewmember evades justice after sexually molesting 11-year-old child on cruise ship

By Leesfield & Partners

According to the following report filed by Orlando local station WKMG-Channel 6 last night, Disney Cruise Line knowingly delayed to report a sexual molestation crime to local police last summer. Rather than possibly be sitting in jail awaiting trial right now, the crewmember was allowed to fly back to his home country of India with a clean criminal record. Below is the chilling story reported by WKMG reporter Tony Pipitone.

This report would be only chilling if it was not customary for crimes in general and sexual crimes in particular to be unreported or widely under-reported. Since the passage in 2010 of a mandatory reporting law of crimes occurring on cruise ships, the number of crimes has inexplicably decreased. One could leap to the conclusion that cruise ships are becoming safer and safer with time, but that would be the wrong assumption. In reality, when a crime occurs on a cruise ship, the cruise line has sole discretion to categorize an incident as criminal in nature. No one doubts that crimes aboard cruise ships is not the best publicity. Especially sexual molestations on minor children aboard a Disney cruise! So the cruise line must find a way to minimize and lessen the number of crimes it reports to the competent authorities. So a cruise line will categorize a crime as a non-criminal event and bypass the reporting laws.

The other way cruise lines have hidden the true frequency of crimes on their ship is by threatening victims. We have reported on several occasions that alcohol consumption aboard cruise ships is on the rise. Invariably, more alcohol being consumed translates in more fights and physical assaults. When the victim of an assault comes forward, the security officers will offer the victim to report the incident to the local authorities and press charges against the assailant at the next port. But the caveat is that, in order to do so, the victim must disembark the ship (sometimes with their entire party) and return home without further assistance from the cruise line. Faced with additional aggravations and a very deterring option, most victims choose to remain on the ship, and the crime goes unreported.

Published on: October 24, 2012

Former Assistant Cruise Director for Norwegian Cruise Line sentenced to 9 years in Federal Prison on Child Pornography Charges

By Leesfield & Partners

Last March, we reported on the arrest of Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Assistant Cruise Director, Senad Djedovic. Last week, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday sentenced Djedovic to 9 years in federal prison.

The details of the alleged crimes were discussed in detail in our previous article: Norwegian Cruise Line’s crewmember arrested after having sex with 16-year-old female passenger

Facing mounting evidence, Djedovic plead guilty to possessing child pornography last Summer. Investigators discovered photos and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit acts on Djedovic’s computers. Among them were approximately 20 photos sent by a 16-year-old female passenger whom Djedovic met on the Norwegian Star, a cruise ship Djedovic was assigned to as the Assistant Cruise Director.

Last May in Court, he admitted to having engaged in sexual acts with the minor girl while on the ship and to having exchanged explicit photos with her after the cruise. In his plea agreement, Djedovic declared that he knew the girl was 16-years-old and underage.

senad djedovic arrest.jpg Ultimately, this crime and criminal would never have been discovered or prosecuted had Djedovic himself not bragged about it. Days after the cruise was over, Djedovic began talking about what he did to and in front of other crew-members, even showing to some of them the photos he had received from the minor passenger. One of the crew-members alerted the authorities and Djedovic was arrested shortly thereafter by the FBI.

Sex crimes aboard cruise ships are becoming more and more frequent and the prosecution of individuals who engage in sexual acts with minor passengers are prosecuted more and more often. This latest case is however very troubling because the criminal involved was a cruise employee. Djedovic was employed by Norwegian Cruise Lines from 2006 through 2012, until he was arrested.
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Published on: July 17, 2012

New arrest of Celebrity Cruises crew member over rape of passenger

By Leesfield & Partners

A 27-year-old woman, traveling with her family, was allegedly raped by a crew member during an 11-night Eastern Mediterranean cruise on board the Celebrity Equinox.

The details of what happened are still under investigation, but some facts were reported by the London Evening Standard.

According to the victim who reported the crime to her parents and to the captain, she and the crew member shared some drinks with the young woman. Tired, she walked back to her cabin and after she made it clear that she was going to sleep. At that moment, the nameless crew member, who had followed her, pushed the woman inside her cabin, threw her on the bed, and performed multiple sex act against the woman’s will.

After she was seen by the ship’s doctor, the captain of the ship reviewed video surveillance footage of the ship and observed the victim sharing drinks with the crew member, as well as the alleged assailant following the passenger to her cabin. He ordered his crew to hold the alleged rapist until the ship arrived in the next port. Upon docking in Messina, Sicily, the man was handed over to the police, with a copy of the video footage.

Upon breaking the news, a Celebrity Cruises released the following statement: “We are aware of the incident involving a British guest on one of our ships and she has opted to continue her cruise. We are liaising with the relevant authorities.”
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